In keeping with one aspect the present invention relates to a method for the delivery of sheet products, wherein the products are firstly transported without, and then later, with overlap, viz. in the form of a stream, and in accordance with a further aspect it relates to an apparatus for performing the method with a stream feed or overlapping unit receiving products from an associated supply device and cooperating with a delivery belt running at a speed lower than that of the supply device.
In the case of one known fan wheel delivery the products after being processed in the folder are supplied by a belt to a fan wheel. The products are laid in the compartments formed between the outwardly radiating wings of the fan wheel and braked thereby. After such compartment has turned through about 90.degree. the product is deposited on a delivery belt. The shortcoming in this respect is that the products are thrown somewhat violently against the wings of the wheel or floors therebetween because of the high kinetic energy of the products so that crashing of the products and damage such as crumpling is likely. A further substantial disadvantage in this respect is that it is not possible to precisely aim the products towards the floors of the compartments. The reason for this is that as the products come off the belt leading to the fan wheel, a number of factors come into play, such as the paper caliper, the number of pages in a product, the nature of the paper and even the amount of ink thereon, which will all affect the motion of the product so that, dependent on the cumulative effect of such factors, the product may land neatly on the compartment floor or may recoil backwards or catch on the end of a wing of the fan wheel. Once the products are irregularly placed on the fan wheel they will be put onto the delivery belt irregularly as well and the product stream thereon is likely to contain laterally displaced, unevenly spaced or skewed products. Further fabrication of the delivered products will then hardly be made more efficient.
In the case of the known slow down delivery equipment the products coming off the folder are decelerated and delivered by cylinders. The folded products are in this case transferred by means of grippers, that are fixed stationarily on the cooperating cylinders, from one cylinder to another and they experience a very abrupt or violent deceleration at the instant of such transfer. However such transfer by grippers is something that is only possible as long as there are still gaps between one product and the next coming from the folder. If the products are to be decelerated even further, as is absolutely necessary for delivery, the stream of products has to be split up into streams. In fact, it is not possible for the products to be overlapped on the cylilnders, because the grippers mounted stationarily on such cylinders have to be accessible, i.e. not buried by the products, for the transfer. Since the products would in such a case where splitting is desired have to be conveyed and guided in two different streams, the system would become overly complex. In this connection it is in fact to be assumed that each such stream ends up at a receiving or further processing station. Apart from this, in the case of the known slow down system the large number of transfers of the products and sudden deceleration thereof means that it is not possible for them to be treated gently and product damage is therefore quite likely.